I am glad that changing male behavior and the underlying attitudes and beliefs is the topic of discussion. I am an American director of an NGO in the British Virgin Islands. We have an extremely high rate of intimate partner violence, child abuse and sexual abuse, as does most of the Caribbean.
Our society is unique in many ways. It is almost exclusively a fundamentalist Christian community. The majority of the population are immigrants with few rights and no power. Of course, this disempowers women even further, especially if married to a "Belonger". There is little cohesiveness or sense of nationality, even among the BVIslanders. Social activism is rare and it is discouraged. Immigrants fear deportation and Belongers fear other sanctions. Our small population of 20,000 should make implementing programs easy, but there is no cooperation between agencies and everything is mired in endless and unproductive meetings. Even getting into the schools to present educational programs is extremely difficult. The country is experiencing new found wealth as a financial Mecca, but social programs continue to be ignored. One has a sense of apathy and inertia for most residents. Those few of us who work for social change often feel defeated. Many good people leave the island because of the frustration. Numerous workshops and conferences are held but the policy makers rarely attend and despite resolutions, no real action takes place. For 7 years protocols of response to DV have been proposed to the hospital and they are still unwilling to accept them and resist working with us to develop ones which will be acceptable. It is the same in other areas of social welfare as well. We know that changing the stereotypes and teaching alternatives to violence are necessary if we can expect any change in future generations, but the prospects are bleak. We cannot even exhort women to exercise their rights or to become active in working to end violence. There is an overwhelming sense of powerlessness and resistance to change that thus far we have not been unable to combat. The leaders and the police often seem to be above the law and seem content with the status quo. There is strong resistance to anything North American, despite the fact that they are tied to the US economy and most BVIslanders are also American citizens or have green cards. We recently did a series of 2 day DV trainings with the police force sponsored by CAFRA and plan to submit a proposal for funding to do widespread training with the medical, social work, religious, judicial and legislative segments. We are looking for trainers and representatives from successful programs in the Caribbean, since trainers from the US are viewed with suspicion. If others have dealt with this situation and have found inroads, please share your experiences. Marylou F. Biasotto Director, Family Support Network email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: 284-494-7622 P.O. Box 245 Road Town, Tortola British Virgin Islands ***End-violence is sponsored by UNIFEM and receives generous support from ICAP*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe end-violence OR type: unsubscribe end-violence Archives of previous End-violence messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/end-violence/hypermail/
